Summary
Tracking Health Insurance Coverage by Month: Trends in Employment-Based Coverage Among Workers, and Access to Coverage Among Uninsured Workers, 1995?2012
- This analysis examines employment-based, health-benefit-coverage rates on a monthly basis from December 1995 to March 2012 to allow for more accurate identification of changes in trends and to more clearly show the effects of recessions and unemployment on changes in coverage.
- Between December 2007 and August 2009, the percentage of workers with coverage in their own names fell from 60.4 percent to 55.9 percent. After August 2009, there appeared to be the beginning of a recovery in the percentage of workers with employment-based coverage, and by December 2009, 56.6 percent of workers had employment-based coverage. However, by October 2011, the coverage had slipped back to 54.7 percent.
- Most uninsured workers reported that they did not have coverage because of cost: 70–90 percent over the December 1995–March 2012 period.
- The percentage of uninsured workers reporting that they were not offered employment-based health benefits was roughly 40 percent from the mid-1990s through 2003, but has been falling since, reaching 22.4 percent by the end of 2011.
Decisions, Decisions: Choices That Affect Retirement Income Adequacy—EBRI’s 72nd Policy Forum
- On May 9, 2013, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) convened its 72nd biannual policy forum in Washington, DC, focused on the topic: “Decisions, Decisions: Choices That Affect Retirement Income Adequacy.”
- At the forum, a wide range of national experts on U.S. retirement policy offered the roughly 200 attendees insights on the impacts of a sustained low-interest-rate environment on retirement savings and retirement income; perspectives on the impacts of the employer match in 401(k) plans—contribution timing, sources, and meeting plan objectives; and suggestions on how to help plans and participants optimize their distribution choices, in particular rollover, drawdown, and annuity options.